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As preparation, I put all the appropriate Bible references for my concerns in a small report. God
had showed me specific verses that contradicted what the pastor taught. He also showed me
what Godly Wisdom is. It is defined in James 3:17. The Amplified Bible reads: "But the
wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate,
gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted
and straight-forward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity)."
The operative words in James 3:17 are "willing to yield to reason."In Isaiah 1:18, God says:
"Come now, and let us reason together."Did you realize you can approach God as a friend, even
as Abraham and Moses did, and actually reason with Him? I.E.--Read Genesis 18:23-33 for
Abraham's dialogue with God. It's awesome! So, if you can reason with God Almighty,
Himself -- it certainly makes sense that you should be able to reason with your pastor. Right?
Before the meeting began, I asked the church business manager if he could sit in on the meeting. I
wanted a witness to the impending conversation. This irritated the pastor a little. After a bit of
waiting and trying to get the assistant pastor to replace the (pastor's son-in-law) business
manager -- the meeting began with myself, the pastor and the business manager. Before I could
get anything significant out of my mouth, the pastor accused me of not supporting his church. I
stated this was not true. I was immediately interrupted again with the accusation that we had
"sparks" on the issue of tithing several times before. I stated this wasn't true and that we hadn't
even had any conversations about the tithe. The pastor then "retracted" his statement which was
a little weird. It was weird in the sense that first he accused of something that was not true.
Then, when it wouldn't stick to me, it was "retracted."I started to wonder; what would be next?
The meeting started to degenerate. I stated that if, he (the pastor), would not allow me to talk,
that I couldn't give him the information from the Bible that God wanted me to give him. The
pastor then stated: "You don't have the spiritual authority to rebuke me."Well, in all honesty, I
wasn't trying to personally rebuke him. If there was any rebuking, it was from 2 Timothy 3:16
shown above. Or, perhaps Hebrews 4:12 which reads: "For the word of God is living and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (NKJ)
Instead, I was simply trying to review some Bible verses with him in order to understand why he
would teach something opposite of what the Bible had to say. As he espoused his "spiritual
authority" dialogue, it was like another epiphany for me. A big light bulb was lit for me by God.
All I could hear in my mind was, it's over. It was like God had just told me emphatically -- "you
cannot reason with the pastor. There is no Godly wisdom."Remember James 3:17? I told the
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